Ventilating device for fallout shelter



Oct. 15, 1963 w. H. WENTLING 3,107,048

VENTILATING DEVICE FOR FALLOUT SHELTER v Filed Nov. 15, 1961 INVEN TOR.

WILLIAM H. WENTLING ATTORNEYS ilnited States The present invention relates generally to ventilating systems and particularly to ventilating systems of the type which find use in small underground shelters or the like.

Much emphasis has been placed recently on the desirability that each individual family have its own underground shelter in order to survive the eifects of a nuclear explosion, as well as tornadoes, hurricanes or other natural atmospheric disturbances. Federal, state and city governmental agencies and civic groups have disseminated literature outlining acceptable designs of inexpensive shelters that can be built in a basement or backyard. It is recommended that such shelters be substantially enclosed, and hence a ventilating system is required to supply the uncontaminated air required during occupancy to provide the necessary oxygen to sustain normal hum-an life. In addition, prior to occupation the ventilating system should from time to time circulate fresh air through the shelter to eliminate damp stale air and protect the supplies stored therein from mold, mildew and general spoilage.

For obvious reasons, ventilating systems for use in such an environment should be thoroughly dependable, and hence a basic requirement is that the blower or fan be capable of manual rotation so that power failure will not prevent its utilization. Preferably the blower or fan is also provided with a motor for automatic operation when power is available and, hence, in such a dual system, it is important that the motor be capable of being easil disconnected from its driving relationship with the blower so that the hand or manual means is not required to turn the motor in addition to the fan or blower.

Accordingly it is an important object of this invention to provide ventilating apparatus which can be driven by a motor or by a manual device which includes an apparatus for permitting the motor to be quickly and easily coupled to and uncoupled from the fan or blower.

A further object of this invention is to provide a blower assembly which is simple in design and operation, which can be alternately driven by a small motor or by a manual device, and which can be easily mounted in its operative position by a non-skilled home owner.

Another object of the invention is to provide a blower assembly which can be driven either through a belt or by a hand crank, wherein both the belt and the hand crank can be easily connected and disconnected from an operative relation with the blower wheel of the assembly, and particularly wherein connection and disconnection of the belt requires merely its engagement or disengagement with the motor output shaft.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claim.

In the drawings- FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a blower in accordance with the invention in its operative environment;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the blower of FIG. 1 looking from right to left in FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the blower assembly as viewed from the cranking side; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary showing of the manner in which the blower wheel is mounted in its housing.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred atent i cc embodiment of the invention, FIG. 1 shows a blower assembly 1t operatively mounted on a shelf 11 in a concrete fallout shelter or the like 15 of the type which is built below the surface of the ground 17. The intake pipe 18 communicates with the atmosphere through a suitable filter, not shown, and has its lower end connected to the blower assembly 10. When the blower wheel 20 is rotated by the motor 21 when electric power is available, or by the hand crank 22 when the electric power has failed or for some other reason the motor 21 is inoperative, is drawn down the intake pipe 18 and forced into the shelter 15 through the outlet 24. Shelter 15 generally includes filtered outlet pipe similar to the intake pipe 18 at the other end of the shelter :so that the air will readily circulate therethrou-gh.

As shown in FIGS. 2-3, the assembly 10 includes the sheet metal blower housing 26 to which the crank housing 27 is secured by the bolts 29 which extend through the ears 3% on the crank housing 27 and threadedly engage the nut members 31 which are integrally connected to the circular reinforcing plate 32 secured, as by brazing, to the side wall 33 of the blower housing 26. The motor 21 is rigidly secured to the housing 26 by bolts 35 as shown. An L -shaped strap or bracket 36 is mounted on the upper portion of housing 26 by bolts 37 and their associated nuts 38 and extends immediately below the output shaft 40 of motor 21. Mounted for rotation with the output shaft 40 is a small pulley 41 for receiving the drive belt 43 which extends through a slot 44 in housing 26 below the bracket 36 into operative engagement with the blower wheel 20 in a manner to be described in detail hereinafter. The belt 43 is placed through the slot 44 prior to securing the bracket 36 to the housing 26, and after the bracket 36 is secured, the belt 43 cannot fall into the blower housing 26.

Power is supplied to the motor 21 through the cord 47 which is held close to the housing 26 by clamps 48 and has a conventional male-type electrical connector 49 on one end thereof for insertion into an appropriate female connector. A switch, not shown, may be placed in the electrical circuit for making and breaking the circuit without requiring the connection and disconnection of the connector 49.

The blower wheel 2t) is mounted for rotation in the blower housing 26 and is of the single inlet type incorporating an end disk 56, an end ring 51 and blades 52, and it has its open end in communication with inlet 53 for drawing air from the inlet pipe 18. The blower wheel 20 includes a hub 54 secured to the end disk 55 and clamped by set crew 55 to the shaft 56 which is rotatably journaled and held against axial movement in the boss 57 formed in the crank housing 27. Specifically, axial movement of shaft 56 to the right, as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 4, is prohibited by the split ring 58 which engages a groove in the end of shaft 56 while leftward axial movement is prohibited when the hub 54 is locked to the shaft 56. A thrust washer 59 separates the boss 57 and hub 54. For preferred results, the wheel is constructed as best seen in FIG. 4 to provide a groove 66 at the juncture of the blades 52 with the disk 5% for retaining the drive belt 43 in driving relation with the blower wheel 20 when the belt is also engaged with pulley 41.

An important feature of the invention is the particular relationship of the blower wheel 20 and the wall 33 which obviates the possibility of the belt 43 becoming jammed therebetween. When the blower wheel 20 is mounted in the preferred manner, the hub 54 is separated from the boss 57 only by the thrust washer 59 to position the outer periphery of the disk 50' a predetermined distance from the wall 33. This distance is designed to be will smaller than the diameter of the belt 43 thereby preventing the latter from becoming wedged between the disk and the wall 33.

As shown in FIG. 3, the crank housing 27 contains a gear transmission comprising teeth 65 formed on the shaft 56 which mesh with the teeth 66 of the comparatively large diameter pinion 67 keyed to the shaft 63 journaled in the housing 27. A portion of shaft 68 projects from the boss 70 and has a crank 22 removably held thereon as by a wing nut 71 which engages the threads 72 on the shaft 68. A fiat, knurling key or other conventional means, not shown, is provided between the crank 22 and the shaft 68 to permit relative angular movement therebetween.

The assembly can be easily mounted by the average skilled home owner by merely mounting the shelf 11 or similar structure on the shelter wall and then placing the horizontally extending feet 75 formed integrally with the crank housing 27 on the top of the shelf and threading the screw 76- by turning knob 77 through a threaded bore 78 in the arm '89 until the plate 81 engages the bottom of the shelf and clamps the blower assembly thereto. Prior to the tightening, the unit is moved as required to align the inlet flange 83 with inlet pipe 18. If necessary, a shim or the like can be placed between the feet 75 and the shelf 11 to raise the assembly 1% with respect to the inlet pipe 18. In addition, its is contemplated that a flexible duct may be utilized to interconnect the inlet pipe 13 and the flange 83 thereby permitting the blower assembly to be located some distance from and at an angle to the inlet pipe 18.

In operation, when power is available, the motor 21 rotates the shaft 40 and pulley 41 to rotate the blower wheel through the belt 43 which rides in groove 60, When the motor is operating, the handle 22 is preferably removed by merely removing the wing nut 71 and sliding the crank axially from the shaft 63. Should the belt 43 ride out of the groove 69 in the direction of side wall 33, it cannot become wedged between the disk 5% and this wall since, as mentioned above, the belt diameter is greater than the space between the wall 33 and the disk 5i and there will be a tendency for the belt 43 to be returned to the groove 60 since the outer diameter of the disk 59 is larger than that of the groove 6i If the belt rides out in the other direction, it will merely ride on the blades 52 and continue to drive the wheel 20. Since the diameter of the blower wheel 2i) at the blades 52 is greater than that of the-groove 60, there will be a tendency for the belt 43 to slip back into the groove of as the blower wheel 29 rotates.

Should the power fail or for some other reason the motor fails, the belt 43 is merely lifted off the pulley 41. Then the crank 22 is replaced on the shaft 68, and the blower wheel 2%) can be rotated by merely turning the crank which rotates the blower wheel 29 at a much greater angular speed due to the gear ratio between the shaft 56 and the pinion 67. The capacity of the blower assembly when driven by either motor or the hand crank will be made known to the operator so that he may readily calculate the time the motor must be run or the crank turned to supply the required amount of air to the shelter.

When power is again available, it is only necessary that the belt 4-3 which has been prevented from falling into the blower housing by the bracket 36, be placed back on its pulley 41 and the motor 21 turned on to reestablish automatic operation of the blower wheel 20.

r The circular cross-section of the belt 43 facilitates its replacement on, as well as its removal from, the pulley 4-1 and groove 65) since it can be rolled into and out of engagement therewith. If the belt 4-3 does not seat in the groove 64 immediately upon placing it on the pulley 4 41 it will tend to be forced thereinto as the blower wheel 20 rotates. However, if the belt 43 never engages the groove 6%, the assembly will still function properly as the belt 43 cannot slip between the disk 59 and wall 33.

While the motorZl has been shown mounted on the upper portion of the housing 26, it is within the scope of this invention to mount this motor in other positions, so long as it is properly aligned with the groove 69 of the blower wheel and held in a predetermined spaced relationship thereto.

While the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise form of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

A blower assembly adapted for use in a fallout shelter and capable of being selectively driven by automatic or manual means comprising, a speed reduction unit having a first housing, said unit having input and drive shafts, said first housing having means thereon adapted to mount said unit in a shelter, a blower housing having inlet and outlet openings, a substantially smooth side wall in said blower housing, fastening means for securing said blower housing to said first housing with said drive shaft extending perpendicularly through said smooth side wall, a fabricated light weight centrifugal blower wheel mounted on said drive shaft with the disk member at the closed end of said wheel being positioned adjacent said side wall, said blower wheel including a plurality of blades having one end connected to and extending axially from the outer periphery of said disk member, an end ring secured to the other ends of said blades and defining an open end in alignment with said inlet opening, means forming an annular groove around said blower wheel between said blades and said outer periphery of said disk member, said blower housing having a slot therein radially aligned with said groove in said blower wheel, an electric drive motor mounted on said blower housing and having an output shaft, a strap secured to said blower housing in overlying relation with said slot to divide said slot into a pair of openings, a driven pulley on said output shaft aligned with said slot in the same radial plane as said groove and said slot, a manually removable drive belt of predetermined minimum cross-sectional diameter adapted to extend around said blower wheel in said groove through said openings on opposite sides of said strap to be received in driving relation around said pulley, means mounting said blower wheel with said disk member spaced from said side wall a predetermined distance less than said belt diameter to prevent entry of said belt therebetween when said belt is disengaged from said pulley, said blades having an outer diameter greater than the inner diameter of said groove to resist movement of said belt from said groove in a direction away from said side wall, gear transmission means in said unit for rotating said drive shaft and said blower wheel at a speed substantially greater than the speed of said input shaft, and removable hand crank means connected to said input shaft for manual rotation thereof when said drive belt has been removed from said drive pulley so that said motor and said belt do not interfere with the manual operation of said motor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany June 18, 1954 

